Gert Fröbe

Infobox actor
birth_name = Karl Gerhart Fröbe
name = Gert Fröbe


caption = Gert Fröbe as Auric Goldfinger in 1964
birthdate = birth date|1912|2|25
deathdate = death date and age|1988|09|05|1913|02|25
occupation = actor
yearsactive = 1948–1988

Karl Gerhart Fröbe, better known as Gert Fröbe (pronounced|geɐt fʁøbə) (February 25, 1912 – September 5, 1988), was a German actor who starred in many films, including the James Bond film "Goldfinger" as Auric Goldfinger and "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" as Baron Bomburst and in "Der Räuber Hotzenplotz" as Hotzenplotz

Fröbe made several appearances in big all-star casts in the 1960s, including the films "The Longest Day", "Is Paris Burning?", and "Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines". Due to his thick German accent, Fröbe was dubbed in some of his classic roles, including by British actor Michael Collins in "Goldfinger". He also appeared in "$" (1971) with Goldie Hawn and Warren Beatty.

While Fröbe was a member of the Nazi Party before and during World War II, he aided German Jews by hiding them from the Gestapo before 1945. Owing to his connection to the Nazi Party, the film "Goldfinger" was banned in Israel until he was publicly thanked by a Jewish family. [Associated Press. (1988, 6 September). [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE4DF123EF935A3575AC0A96E948260 Gert Frobe, an Actor, Dies at 75] .]

Fröbe gained early fame in one of the first movies made after WWII, called "Berliner Ballade" ("The Ballad of Berlin", 1948), as a very thin man. That changed rapidly in later movies. In 1958 Fröbe was cast as the villain in the Swiss-German movie "Es geschah am hellichten Tag" ("It Happened in Broad Daylight"), which was novelised by Swiss author Friedrich Dürrenmatt. His role as an insane murderer of children drew the attention of the producers of the James Bond movie "Goldfinger" (1964) and he was finally to play one of the most remarkable and remembered villains of the series, gold tycoon Auric Goldfinger.

Aside from acting, Fröbe also was a prolific reciter of lyric poetry, especially of Christian Morgenstern and Joachim Ringelnatz.

Fröbe died, aged 75, in September 1988 from a heart attack.

Trivia

*In the film "Joe Dirt", actor Christopher Walken's character, protected by the United States witness protection program, changed his name to Gert G. Frobe. Both Fröbe and Walken have played Bond villains.

*Students on the campus of Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology annually celebrate 'Gert Fröbe Day' on February 25 to mark the end of winter quarter final exams.

* Fröbe first appeared in the 1948 movie "Berliner Ballade" performing "Otto Normalverbraucher" (lit. Otto Standardconsumer), a German term equivalent to Average Joe or Fred Bloggs.

Partial filmography

* Berliner Ballade (1948)
* Dunja (1955)
* Nasser Asphalt (1958)
* The Longest Day (1962)
* Goldfinger (1964)
* Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965)
* A High Wind in Jamaica (1965)
* Triple Cross (1966)
* Rocket to the Moon (1967)
* Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)
* Monte Carlo or Bust (1969)
* $ (1971)
* Ludwig (1972)
* Bloodline (1979)

References

External links

*imdb name|id=0002085|name=Gert Fröbe

Persondata
NAME = Fröbe, Gert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
SHORT DESCRIPTION = German actor
DATE OF BIRTH = February 25, 1912
PLACE OF BIRTH = Planitz
DATE OF DEATH = September 5, 1988
PLACE OF DEATH = Munich, Germany